


Man Out of Time

by Entwinedlove



Series: Marvelously Magical Bingo 2018 [23]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU - Repealed Statute of Secrecy, Canon-Typical Violence, Coworkers - Freeform, Gen, SHIELD, hits stations of canon for the end of CA:TFA and The Avengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 19:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16270382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove
Summary: Agent Granger helps Steve get acclimated to the future. And then there were aliens.





	Man Out of Time

**Author's Note:**

> For Marvelously Magical Bingo 2018; fills square **N3** – _Free Space_
> 
> [ ](https://i.imgur.com/mMJZVj7.jpg)

Steve opened his eyes and blinked a few times to clear the grit of sleep from them. The ceiling looked weird. Where was he? The last thing he could remember was the Valkyrie and crashing into the ocean. Was this heaven? He doubted it. He could hear a baseball game. He recognised a play and the names they said—except—some of those guys had enlisted, others had been drafted. The radio was playing an old game.

He sat up and looked around. The window was open but the noise of the city street wasn't nearly as loud as he would expect. There wasn't a smell from the hot asphalt or the bricks. The door opened and a woman stepped in. She spoke English but he couldn't identify the accent. "Morning. Or should I say afternoon?"

"Where am I?" he asked.

She answered, "You're in a recovery room in New York City," but there was something about how she hesitated slightly that seemed to indicate that she wasn't being honest. Her smile was friendly enough but everything about her screamed wrong. Imposter. Her hair was past regulations, her tie was too wide, her breasts—Jesus—even the shape of those were wrong, what the hell? He looked around, listening intently to the soft sound of traffic out the window and the baseball game on the radio.

"Where am I, really?" he asked again.

She gave him a brief, fake smile. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

"The game. It's from May 1941, I know 'cuz I was there."

Her eyes widened and the smile she wore slipped from her face as she realized the ruse was up. He stood.

"Now I'm going to ask you again, where am I?"

She was visibly nervous but she didn't fidget. "Captain Rogers—"

"Who are you?" he shouted.

The door behind her flew open and two armed men, in uniforms similar to HYDRA came in, weapons pointed at him. He snapped to action, punching and flipping them into the wall. They both went through it instead. He jumped through the hole they made and quickly scanned the new scene in front of him. Spotting the door, he ran for it even as more armed men poured out of it.

He did just enough to disable them without killing them, hopefully, and then he was rushing down the corridor and looking for stairs or some way out of the building. Another group went down before a single voice called out behind him and it stopped him in his tracks.

"Captain Rogers! Steve—"

That voice, that accent. No one else could have got him to stop, except maybe Colonel Phillips. He turned, her name already on his lips, "Peggy?"

But after a second's glance, he knew it wasn't Peggy even at this distance. Sure, she had dark hair pulled up to regulation and her silhouette was right but her shoes weren't the sensible things that he'd seen Peggy wear.

"Please, let me explain?" she asked. "Come into my office, Captain." She gestured behind her.

He looked around at the armed men laying around his feet and the corridor. He'd heard an announcement go off, a call to arms he'd thought, but now it was stopped. Had she called it off? Finally, wary but curious, he nodded. "Where am I? Who are you?"

She smiled a little. "My name is Hermione Granger and I am an agent of SHIELD. You're in one of our multi-use facilities in New York City. If you'll follow me, I'll tell you more." Her accent shifted when she answered him. It was still British but she no longer sounded like Peggy.

She turned and walked away presuming he'd follow her. He debated against it for spite but decided she might actually give him more information if he cooperated. She'd answered his question the first time, unlike the other woman. He followed reluctantly.

She led him to a spacious office that overlooked the city and he walked straight to the windows and looked out in shock. The skyline, the entire city, looked different. Wrong. Unfamiliar. "What...?" he couldn't articulate what he wanted to ask as he stared out at the city. It was New York, he recognised the Chrysler and Empire State buildings in the distance, but it wasn't at the same time. He turned and pinned Granger with a glare that hoped expressed how much he wanted an explanation.

She gestured to one of the two blue armchairs in front of her desk before she took the one closest to her. He supposed that her sitting on this side of the desk was an attempt at not being seen as a superior. He didn't know if she was or not. As far as he was concerned she was an enemy combatant until he confirmed otherwise. He pulled the chair she'd indicated for him back so he wasn't too close to her and sat down. "What is SHIELD?"

"SHIELD is an intelligence agency founded by Howard Stark and Peggy Carter in 1949," she answered first. He narrowed his eyes at her. She continued without being prompted beyond that. "It's 2011. You were... for lack of a better word, asleep, for sixty-six years."

His breath left him in an undignified huff. He opened his mouth to ask how but even the word seemed too much. Finally, he nodded, like it wasn't the worse thing in the world and said, "I had a date."

She smiled but this time it was sad and full of sympathy. "Yes, Peggy told me about that once. I think it was the only time I've ever heard of her sharing that. She's an intensely private person."

He swallowed and as much as he wanted to focus on all the other, more important things, he couldn't help but ask, "Peggy's still alive? Where is she?"

Her smile faded. "She retired in 2006 and moved to DC to be with her daughter and grandchildren. Last year, Evelyn had her admitted to a nursing home when..." she hesitated and glanced away from him, upset, "...when Peggy was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. It's a—"

"I know what it is." Steve's mind whirled. Daughter. Grandchildren. Alzheimer's. He had the urge to get up and punch something but he knew it wouldn't help anything. He needed to redirect the conversation away from Peggy. "And Stark?"

Agent Granger looked back at him. "Howard Stark and his wife died in a car crash about twenty years ago, unfortunately. Their son, Tony, is... difficult. He's a genius but he's troubled. A wild card. He's a consultant of SHIELD but not part of the agency in any official capacity. I'll get you more information about him later."

"What is it, though?"

"SHIELD? Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. We're a new iteration of SSR. We deal with everything but mostly paranormal and superhuman threats."

"Paranormal and superhuman?" he questioned.

"Human experimentation, ring any bells?" She asked, quirking up one of her eyebrows. "Though the definition of paranormal is rather broad. It includes things like magic."

"Magic?"

"Yes. Magic's been a part of the world since the beginning but the magical world went into hiding in the seventeenth century. The Statute of Secrecy was broken in 1998 and officially repealed in 2000." She sat back in her chair and pulled a thin black dowel-looking item out of her right sleeve. "I'm a witch and this is my wand. With it, I can do a wide array of offensive, defensive, and healing spells. Pretty much anything you can imagine, barring a few major things, can be done with a wand." She slipped it back into what looked like a holster on her arm before clasping her hands and resting them on her knees. She sat quietly, just watching him. It took him longer than it should have to realise she was giving him a moment to process and to ask questions.

He also leaned back, not as worried as he had been about this being a strange HYDRA plot. She hadn't refused to answer any of his questions and she seemed forthcoming enough. He didn't want to believe her about the fact that he'd somehow survived scuttling the Valkyrie into the ice and water but the skyline beyond her window was major evidence for her case. He supposed if she was a witch she could be playing with his mind, showing him a world that didn't exist, a future that wasn't real. He didn't get that vibe from her though. He trusted her. _Sixty-six years_. Jesus.

"Are we still at war?" He finally asked, returning his gaze to her from where he'd let it slip to study the skyline again. He paid closer attention to her now that he didn't feel quite as overwhelmed. She had dark hair and eyes and though the skin around her mouth was smooth, she had a few lines at the corner of her eyes. She was pretty but not out of the park like Peggy had been. Christ, he wanted to talk to Peggy.

"Not the same one you were in, no. We won that one. There have been others since then. Nothing as grand as a world war but then again, after what the Americans did to end the last one in '45, others are reluctant to anger the Giant."

"The Americans? Not the Allies?"

"Oh, I'm sure the American president at the time consulted with the other Heads of State. But FDR's successor, Truman, was the one to make the final decision."

His skin broke out into gooseflesh. Something bad must have happened for her to differentiate like that. "What did we do?"

"They dropped two atomic bombs on two non-military-strategic cities in Japan. Killed roughly 200,000 civilians."

He closed his eyes and shook his head the slightest bit, disappointed and disheartened by that staggering amount of lost lives. Civilian lives. "My God."

Granger nodded and looked down.

Steve jerked to his feet when the door to her office slammed back into the wall where it stuck, the doorknob caught in the drywall. A man in a black trenchcoat wearing an eyepatch stood in the doorway. Granger turned slightly in her seat to look from the doorknob to the man before giving him an indifferent, annoyed look. She made a quick motion, a simple flick of her arm, but suddenly her wand was in her hand and she was pointing it at the damaged wall. Another flick, a flash of light, and the wall was completely repaired.

The man pointed at her as she put away her wand again. "You and I are going to have a conversation later that you won't enjoy. How come I wasn't alerted the second he left his room?"

"I suppose it's because one of the men who was supposed to alert you was taken down, along with fifteen others, in less time than it takes for the lift to get to this floor. I figured an honest approach was best after that," she answered him. "Captain Rogers, this is Nick Fury, the current Director of SHIELD."

He paused to nod his head in Steve's direction, and then asked Granger another question, "How much did you tell him?"

"Everything he's asked about. I've informed him of the date and some of the many changes over the years."

He frowned but nodded. He turned to look at Steve. "This is probably a bit overwhelming, huh? I've got a place you can go, called the Retreat, where you can relax and learn about the future at your own pace."

Granger apparently didn't seem to like this plan of action because she stood and faced Fury, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're going to send him to the Retreat? Alone? Isolating him isn't going to help him acclimate. He needs to go through demobilization, at the very least. Routine. Stability. He needs someplace as familiar as we can make it for him."

"We don't have anything set up—"

"I do," she said. She reached behind her and picked up a folder off of her desk and handed it to Fury.

"When did you have time to do this? I thought you had been on emergency vacation the last two days."

"I took vacation time to handle the matter personally, as the Barnes Protocol dictated."

"The Barnes Protocol?" Steve asked, interrupting her glaring contest with Fury even as Fury flipped through the contents of the folder she handed him.

"Set up by Director Carter herself in the event that an MIA agent is found alive and returns home."

Steve closed his eyes at hearing the familiar name, wishing he'd been allowed on the rescue or recovery mission to retrieve Bucky. Instead, he and the tactical team had needed to act quickly in taking the fight to Schmidt or the Japanese wouldn't be the only ones to have had an atom bomb dropped on them in 1945.

"How come I've never heard of this?" Fury asked her.

"Considering Director Carter was my mentor and passed the instructions on to me directly, I would feel violated had you known about it." She tipped her head and raised her eyebrows in challenge at the older man.

He pursed his lips and nodded, flipping the folder shut and handing it back to her. "Come to me next time. And stop by Coulson's office to get the cell phone and other things he has for Rogers."

She smiled and took the folder from him. "Will do."

He looked back at Steve. "Captain Rogers," he said by way of goodbye and then he turned and left.

Granger smiled and looked over at Steve. "Well. Let's get you settled into your new flat."

* . * . *

The apartment that Agent Granger had set up for him was peculiar. On the outside, the building—and from what he could tell, the apartments—were relatively square. The inside of the apartment, however, was a long narrow rectangle, laid out like a tenement. It reminded him of the apartment he'd shared with Bucky before the war except each room was much larger than he was used to and there were more windows that let in a lot of light. There wasn't any clutter or anything to say the space was lived in. It felt sterile.

When Granger had handed over the keys she'd expressed a hope that he would feel at home here.

Aside from the typical things he expected to find—the bed, the living room furniture—there were new things like the modern fridge and the oven. He even had his own washing machine and dryer. There was a full bathroom just for him with an enormous clawfoot tub and a separate shower. He'd been shocked at having a personal telephone just for him in the apartment as well as a multitude of electronic devices that he had yet to fiddle with. Alongside a modest selection of clothes, including jeans, that were already in the closet, there were two bags of luggage that had been provided for him by Agent Coulson.

Steve had ignored all of the new gadgets to wander the streets of the city for a few hours, relearning the bits of Manhattan he'd known before. When it was sufficiently late enough he returned home and tried to sleep.

He woke up twice from nightmares about the cold and moved to the floor because there was something wrong with the bed. It was too soft and it felt like he was sinking into it like he was going to be swallowed up. If it weren't for how warm the blankets were it would have reminded him of the icy water rushing into the cockpit of the Valkyrie.

Agent Coulson had given him a cell phone, a personal telephone which he was meant to carry with him at all times. It lit up when he pressed the button on the side but he didn't have anyone to call so he just tucked it in his pocket in the morning when he got dressed. On the kitchen table were two envelopes and a stack of books and documents that he'd bypassed the night before. One of the envelopes was small and had a stack of cash inside, though it looked a bit different than what he was used to. The second envelope was document sized and on the front of one was printed _Howling Commandos_. He wasn't sure what or who the Howling Commandos were but he had a feeling he wouldn't like what was in there. He set that one aside: he would look at it soon but not yet. The stack of books had a small note stuck to the top that said: _Reading catch-up. Fiction, non-fiction, and manuals for most of the new electronics in your flat. - HG_

He shuffled through the books and noticed manuals for the fridge, the oven—did she think he didn't know how to use an oven?—the washer and dryer, along with books for the television, the personal computer, and both telephones. He set the entire stack on one of the empty bookshelves in the front room.

He didn't know what he was supposed to do now. He didn't have an objective aside from maybe 'get acclimated' and learn about everything he'd missed. Steve sighed and decided he needed to get some fresh air. He pocketed the keys he'd left on the bedside table and left the apartment. This time instead of trying to find the ways the city was the same and map the differences, he just wandered.

His wandering feet led him onto the train to Brooklyn and it wasn't until he felt the thud-clack of rails under him that he realised what he was doing. The familiar sound of the train on the tracks rang ominously in his head. Would the Brooklyn he knew and loved and remembered be as lost to him as Bucky was?

When he was off the train he took the streets that he knew would take him home. His heart ached when he saw that home was no longer there. The tenement building where he'd shared an apartment with Bucky was gone and replaced with something newer. He sighed and walked on. Trying to blend old memories with new ones as he went.

He made his way to Green-wood to visit his parents' graves and then he went looking for the gym he and Bucky used to frequent. He found it, though it had changed hands a number of times and looked somewhat different. He decided he'd come back with some of the workout clothes he'd found in the closet and pay for a membership later. It was enough to know it was still there. That there was at least one thing that was familiar.

He didn't see any automats around but he did stop at a diner to eat. He was shocked at the prices and with the amount of food brought to him but he'd been given plenty of cash so he assumed the higher prices were normal.

Once back at his new apartment, Steve emptied his pockets, setting the keys, cash, and mobile phone on the nightstand. He pressed the button on the side of the phone but unlike before, it didn't light up. He flipped it over and studied it. He saw where it could probably come apart but he wasn't sure if he needed to in order to fix whatever was wrong with it. He sighed and went searching for the manual. With a quick perusal through the booklet, he returned to the luggage Agent Coulson had given him and found the charger. He plugged the phone up, leaving it on the chest of drawers opposite his bed.

He decided to take a shower before bed and stood under the hot spray for much longer than he probably should have. When he came out his phone had lit up again. He looked at the screen, just in case there was any pertinent information on there and found he had a missed call, a voicemail, and a text. All from the same number. He found the text first.

_You can also contact me this way if you want. I'll call back tomorrow. - HG_

It wasn't entirely intuitive but Steve found the flashlight, voicemail, and camera all within quick succession.

"Hi Captain Rogers, this is Agent Granger though you can call me Hermione if you'd like. I just wanted to check in with you, see how you were liking your flat and if there was anything I could do for you. See if you had any questions. I have the upcoming weekend off if you're interested in hanging out or just want to talk. I didn't mention it, and please don't think I meant for you to starve, but the cupboards and fridge are stocked. I didn't know what you'd like so I selected a wide variety. Anything you know you don't like we can donate." There was a short pause like she was contemplating something before she said, "I'll talk to you later then."

Steve tapped the button on the screen to disconnect from voicemail and then pressed the power button to sleep the device. He left it plugged up. He supposed he would talk to her tomorrow. He pulled the blankets off the bed and made a pallet on the floor. He laid down and closed his eyes and tried not to think.

* . * . *

Hermione couldn't help but let her gaze follow Steve as he wandered around the control centre of the helicarrier. They'd talked on the phone two or three times a month and met for coffee a few times in the six months since he'd come out of the ice. She thought he was coping moderately well but he didn't like to talk about it. She'd understood the urge to bottle things up after her own war. It was Peggy who had helped her open up.

Agent Romanoff approached and flicked open the app on Hermione's terminal that was running the facial recognition software for Agent Barton. "It's not going to find him in time, is it?" she asked in a quiet whisper.

"I don't know."

"Do you think you'll be able to break the mind control if that's what it is?" She tilted her head to make eye contact and Hermione felt her heart thump in sympathy. Agent Romanoff rarely worked with other agents but when she did it was always with Barton.

"I'll try my best."

Romanoff's lips gave a little quirk like she didn't know how to smile. Director Fury called her name and asked her to show Dr Banner to the laboratory. Hermione looked over the data on her screen before minimizing the app with Agent Barton's face on it.

When they finally got a hit on the cameras it was for Loki's face, rather than Barton's. Hermione relayed the information to Agent Romanoff as she was the team leader on this assignment and returned to monitoring her station.

Sometime later, after night had fallen and Loki had been apprehended in Germany, someone flagged permission for an incoming Quinjet to land on the helicarrier. She heard another agent give clearance but before she could even start the diagnostics for the returning jet the entire helicarrier listed to the side and chaos broke loose.

"All hands to stations!"

"External detonation, engine three is down!"

Hermione worked at her terminal stabilizing her section of the ship, and locking down the damaged sectors to prevent crew members from accessing dangerous areas. There was an animalistic roar so loud she felt it in her chest. "Granger," Director Fury's voice came to her through the comms device in her ear. "I need you to subdue the Hulk."

She blanched. Even Romanoff seemed afraid of the Hulk and Hermione didn't think Romanoff had been afraid of much in her life. "What do you want me to do? Sing him a lullaby?" she sassed back.

"If that's what it takes to stop him or get him off this ship, then yes. I don't even care if you're off-key."

Hermione took a deep breath and left the bridge, jogging towards the beastly roars. It didn't take her long to find men fleeing from the direction she assumed the Hulk to be in. She arrived on the scene just in time to see the blond Asgardian, Thor, fly into the green monster to stop him from attacking Romanoff. Hermione paused, kneeling down next to her. "Are you all right?"

She nodded jerkily and that was good enough for Hermione. She turned, drew her wand and followed the sound of crunching metal and beastly roaring.

What she saw when she finally got to the end of the trail of destruction was the two of them tossing one another around. She tried the easy stuff first, " _Stupefy_!" The spell seemed to bounce off of him like they would Hagrid. "Damn, worth a try." She sighed, "Hey!" she yelled to get his attention, "Cave troll!"

The giant green man turned and growled in anger at her. She swallowed and nodded, "Right, that was the plan... okay." When he charged her she Apparated. She had aimed for ten feet back, behind a pile of munitions cases but ended up twenty feet over and eight feet up in the air; she'd not made up for the fact that the helicarrier was still losing altitude. She dropped like a stone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw monster-green heading her way. Searching for something she could potentially throw at him she spotted Thor's hammer. "Accio hammer!" It flew in her direction and she aimed the projectile at the Hulk's head. It only stopped him for a moment but it was enough time to roll out of reach and retake her feet.

Thor launched himself at the Hulk again and Hermione tried another spell, the illusion of fire this time, aimed at the Hulk's feet. She made the flame more blue than orange, hoping that the scientist mind of Dr Banner would understand the inherent danger of it. It worked—to an extent. Thor was also caught up in the illusion and his instinctive reaction to seeing fire caused him to fling himself back and against the glass behind them. When he spotted her he got an odd look in his eye before he darted away from behind Banner.

"Off the ship," Hermione mumbled to herself as she made the flame encircle the Hulk now that Thor was out of the way. He backed up a few more steps until his back was close to the glass. He roared at her and in sympathy—as she knew what jumping through a window felt like—she also vanished the glass panes directly behind him. When he felt the wind at his back he turned. Hermione added a Hot-Air Charm to increase the illusion and took a step forward, casting the fake fire closer to him.

Before she could force him to jump, Thor's hammer went flying over her head and into the Hulk's chest which knocked him backwards out of the helicarrier. The instant he passed anything to grab a hold of, Hermione ran to the open window and looked out, clutching her wand tight against the rush of cold, thin air. She watched and when it looked like he was getting close to the ground she cast an Arresto Momentum at him. He stopped, suspended in mid-air. She could just make out his roar over the wind noise. She cancelled the spell and let him drop the rest of the way to the ground.

She sighed and backed up. "Did you call your hammer back to you?" She turned, asking Thor. He waved it at her even as he panted and she nodded and replaced the glass she'd vanished.

"You're a sorceress," Thor said.

"Yes," she agreed, "Though I use the word witch."

"My brother is a sorcerer. As is our mother. It can be a noble art if not used for tricks."

"Thanks, I think," she said. "I need to—"

Just then Director Fury called over her comms, "Granger, report."

She reached up and pressed the activate button on the device. "Hulk is off the ship, sir."

"Good, get to your crash station."

She turned to tell Thor her orders and to bring him with her to find him a place to be safe in the event of a crash but when she said as much he should his head, "We need to check on Loki."

She wasn't particularly keen on that idea but she nodded, "All right, this way." She led him down to the Detainment level and he rushed ahead of her, shouting as he did so. She heard Loki before she saw him, gloating about Thor falling for something. Hermione pressed her back against the wall and peeked around the door frame. Loki was dressed in black and green armoured robes. Thor brought his hammer down onto the glass of the cage he was in. It cracked but the release mechanism registered the hit and detached, ready for the heavy glass cage to be dropped.

"The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?" Loki said, strolling towards the control panel. Hermione forced herself to keep breathing quietly as she watched. She needed to know what he was capable of before running in blind. That was one of the many lessons time, experience, and Peggy Carter had taught her.

She heard a thunk and Agent Coulson say in an unreasonably calm voice, "Move away, please."

Hermione swore under her breath. He'd come through a different doorway and she hadn't seen him. She left her spot, moving down the outside corridor to get closer to the door behind Coulson. Maybe if she got close enough she could provide back up.

She heard the unmistakable sound of someone gasping in shock and pain and then the collapse of a body. Thor shouted again. She swore again even as she crept closer. The drop door opening and the wind noise it caused blocked any other attempt at listening. She moved further into the room. She could see Coulson propped against the wall, could just make out the smell of blood and something burning in the air. The sound and sight of the glass cage dropping with Thor inside added a shake to her hands. How could one's own brother so casually attempt homicide like that? She pivoted back out of sight as the drop door closed.

"You're going to lose," Coulson said. She could hear how reedy his voice was. With her free hand, she flipped open the snap on her potions belt next to her pistol, digging around until she found the uniquely-shaped bottle that she knew was her dittany. As soon as it was clear, she needed to be ready to administer first aid. There was a loud zapping noise and the smell of something burning increased. "So that's what it does," Coulson seemed to mutter to himself.

She looked around the corner once, saw that Loki was gone—through a melted hole in the wall?—and rushed to Agent Coulson. She didn't bother with preliminaries and ripped his shirt open, buttons flinging everywhere.

"Didn't think you were interested in me like that, Granger," he teased, blood dripping from the corner of his grin.

She shook her head at him. "You're an idiot, do you know that?" He nodded and she uncorked the bottle of dittany. She poured it on the bloody, gaping wound in his chest and when it was starting to close, she focused on one of the healing spells she'd learned after the war. He closed his eyes.

When she was sure the wound was closed, she helped him stand. Before they'd taken two steps, her ears popped from the altitude drop but the swooping feeling in her stomach started to subside. "Do you think they got the engines working?" Coulson asked. He had his arm over her shoulders, leaning on her heavily. She would have much preferred to conjure him a stretcher and float him to the infirmary but he'd asked her not to. They were just to the stairs when Director Fury came down them.

"Sorry boss," he said, "The guy rabbited."

"He's lost a lot of blood, sir," Hermione informed the Director. He nodded and radioed for help. After Fury helped her get Coulson to the infirmary she walked with him back up to the bridge. Steve and Tony Stark met them there.

Stark looked a little wide-eyed at her and she glanced down to see that she still had Coulson's blood on her hands. She pulled her wand from her pocket and syphoned it off one and then the other. When she was done she looked up first to Steve and then to Fury. "I want on the team you send after him, sir."

"What team? What do you mean 'going after him'?" Stark asked rapid-fire. "He played us; tore apart the beginnings of a team we already had."

"Thor had my back when I faced the Hulk and I watched his brother drop him in the detainment cage from 20 thousand feet up with the intention of killing him," Hermione said, turning to him. "If it killed him, I want to avenge him. If it didn't—"

"If it didn't he's one helluva tough cookie," Agent Barton said as he and Agent Romanoff entered the room.

Hermione looked him over and shared a glance with Romanoff, who nodded. "Good to see you, Agent Barton."

"Good to be back, kid." Turning to Director Fury, he asked, "We going after him, or what?"

"We're dead in the air up here. Communications are down. Locations of the Cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you."

"Loki needs a power source, doesn't he?" Steve asked the group.

What followed was interesting to watch from an outsider's point of view. Stark had a very fast vocal brainstorming session with himself. Hermione had done something similar on occasion too but found it relatively fascinating listening to someone else go through it. When he was done, after concluding that Loki would be using the arc reactor in Stark Tower as his power source, he mumbled, "I need to work on my suit," and walked out of the bridge.

The remaining members of the group looked around one another before turning to leave the bridge as well. Hermione and Steve were the last ones out. In the corridor, she stopped once she got a look at his odd boots. "What are you—" her gaze travelled up from his boots to his legs and well-defined thighs,"—are those tights?"

"I, umm, yeah, well, Coulson—"

"Of course, it was Coulson," she rolled her eyes and retrieved her wand, holding it up in front of her. "Would you like a suit like SHIELD agents wear? With body armour?"

He seemed to contemplate the question for a moment before he gave a tentative, "Yes?"

She nodded and Transfigured his blue spandex into the typical black ensemble field agents wore. As a nod to his public persona, she added a light grey star to the chest piece. "How's that?" she asked.

He shifted, moving around in the new clothes to test the manoeuvrability and then nodded. "Nice, thanks."

"You're welcome."

* . * . *

Hours later, when the dust was settled, the alien threat dealt with, and most of their team gathered and resting, Steve set out in search of their missing member. He'd seen her work in tandem with Barton and Romanoff, seen her taking down the enemy with her wand and her pistol, switching between them as if both were a part of her. And even when Steve himself was exhausted and he could see the fight wearing down on all of them she had waved off recuperating and jogged away from them. It was only after she was out of sight that he thought to ask Romanoff where she was going.

Barton was the one to answer. "She's going to lend her talents to triage now. We'll have to go find her eventually. She'll keep going until she's dead on her feet if we don't reel her in."

And so after an hour of sitting around, lazily eating Shawarma and letting his body heal what wounds he'd sustained, Steve got some of the food to go and set out in search of Hermione.

He found her in one of the parks emergency workers had set up as a base of operations. She was just finishing up with a patient when he found her. She was wearing an apron over her SHIELD uniform and he could see a thin layer of concrete dust still coating her. She was syphoning the blood off her hands as he approached.

"Hermione?" She looked up and smiled when she saw him but it didn't stick. "I brought you some food. Barton said you'd keep working until you drop otherwise."

"Thanks," she said, "You can set it over—" she started to point to someplace away from her when he put it in her hands.

"You need to eat. You've saved a lot of lives both during the fight and after."

"Not nearly enough," she responded.

"You need to take care of yourself too."

She smiled at him and it lasted a little bit longer this time. She looked down at the food wrapped in her hands. "What is this? It smells good."

"Shawarma. It's pretty tasty."

She nodded and unwrapped the top of it to take a bite. Steve smiled and looked down, only feeling a little awkward just standing there watching her eat. She moaned like she was enjoying it and he looked up at her and asked. "Good?"

She nodded and grinned around the bite of food but didn't actually say anything until she'd swallowed. "Yes, it's very good." She took another bite.

Suddenly three groups of five people appeared in the open area to the left of them. Steve was immediately on guard, planting his feet to brace for whatever was happening now.

Hermione called out, "Harry!" and quickly rewrapped her food and rushed towards one of the fifteen people who had just arrived. "Not that I'm not glad to see you but what are you doing here?" she asked the man with messy black hair and glasses.

"The Minister deployed us as an aid for the City of New York," he said. He looked around, nodding at the still very active flow of emergency workers and survivors. "Looks like you need it. And you? I see someone's made sure to feed you. Have you taken a breather since the wormhole opened?"

"Steve's making sure I eat and have a break," she said, nodding. She took the moment to unwrap her food and take another small bite.

"Steve, huh?"

She seemed to choke the swallow down and she might have blushed but Steve couldn't tell from that angle. He took a step closer, sensing that she was about to make introductions. She turned to look at him and then back to her friend. "Auror Harry Potter, this is Captain Steve Rogers. Saviour of the Wizarding World meet the saviour of the... _whole_ world?"

Steve shook his head, denying the title, "Just doing my job," he said. He offered his hand for her friend to shake and nodded at him. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Harry said.

"Potter!" someone called, turning all their attention to the new person. "What's the plan, sir?"

Harry nodded and waved absent-mindedly to them as he focused on his task. Steve turned back to Hermione to see her chewing another bite of her sandwich. After she swallowed she gave him an embarrassed little smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone re-reading this. My internal timeline was a little off. Originally, in this story, I had set the exposure of magic in 2000 and the repeal in 2002. This is out of sync with my notes and the other stories in this series. It's been fixed to 1998 and 2000 respectively in the text.


End file.
